Jae’vyn Wortham’s powerful overhand kill early in the third game of L’Anse Creuse’s 25-20, 25-18, 25-15 victory against Lake Shore in the first round of the state Class A district at Roseville Monday gave the Lancers just the spark they needed after falling behind 4-0.

Wortham’s kill forced a sideout and triggered a 16-3 run by L’Anse Creuse to send it to the district semifinals Wednesday against Macomb Area Conference Red Division rival Fraser.

“I did NOT want to lose,” Wortham said. “I came to get the ‘W’ so you have to do what you have to do to win. I was just trying to get the team up and have a positive attitude - no one down, everyone with their intensity up and ready to win.”

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Lancers coach Alysia Williams said that a play like Wortham’s can make a difference in a match.

“Momentum is such a huge part of this game,” Williams said. “Jae’vyn has that personality as a player. She has the ability to change the momentum. Her energy is so contagious to the team. When she gets excited, when she’s fired up, it wears off on all of them.

“The momentum change can be the deal breaker in a lot of situations. You put the ball to the floor hard, and it’s a statement move at that moment. For the rest of the team it’s ‘let’s carry that momentum and go.’ The girl who’s serving says, ‘it’s my turn to score some points.’ Aly (Pfahl) served a nine-point run. We got the lead back and continued to dominate. For the rest of the way we have to keep riding those momentum shifts.”

Natalie Courtright and Wortham were dominant at the net for L’Anse Creuse. The two juniors combined for 22 kills, with Courtright leading the way with 14.

“They’re my two dominating hitters, our go-tos in the middle 99 percent of the time,” Williams said. “It’s a matter of them utilizing what they have against them. Sometimes you have bigger blocks than others so it’s a matter of them learning and adjusting to the defense on the other side of the net.

“They’ve done a good job of looking for the open court, learning how to use the block, hitting around the block, finding the open spots and knowing what decisions to make at the right times.”

L’Anse Creuse is looking to the state tournament as a chance to erase some of the memories of a regular season that saw the Lancers go winless in the tough MAC Red.

“It was a very rough season in the Red,” Courtright said. “Today we came out with a lot of energy and good things came to us. We’ve practiced very hard and we deserved this win. This is a new season for us.”

That’s what Williams has been preaching to her team.

“The girls tease me because I keep telling them we’re about to start a new season,” she said. “They’ve prepared for three months. We’ve struggled and had some ups and downs. I put them up against a lot of competition to prepare for now. That’s what it’s about. We’re going to start over and go back to 0-0.

“We’re going to take all the things we’ve been working on and hopefully put them all together and make them click at the same time and look for success.”

Lake Shore, which tied for third in the MAC Gold, battled the Lancers for most of the first two games, but L’Anse Creuse had a little too much for the Shorians at the end of each game.

“I thought my girls put on a pretty good show against a team that’s three divisions up from us,” said Lake Shore coach Margaret Kwapisz. “We stayed pretty competitive in the first two games. In the third we lost it a little bit but I thought they really came out and played in the first two.

“We had more blocks than we usually do -- we’ve been working on that -- and hardly any missed serves. They did everything I asked but it wasn’t enough.”

For Lake Shore, Sydney Morgan had six kills and two blocks; Andrea Rico served 12 points (two aces) and had six digs, and Danielle Garcia made 10 assists.

A kill by Wortham and an ace serve by Gina Jiovani wrapped up the first game for L’Anse Creuse. Courtright had five kills in the game.

In the second game, Lake Shore closed to 21-18, but the Lancers scored the next four points, three of them on kills by Leah Rose, who returned to action after spraining her wrist.

“Aly has come into her game in the last month,” Williams said. “This is her third year on the varsity and she has played all the defensive positions. When we moved her to middle back this year, she was a little hesitant but she learned to read the hitters well. She’s been a huge, huge asset to our team.”

The Shorians lose key seniors Garcia, Morgan, Carlie Craven and Rachel Gierman, but have a solid nucleus returning next year.

Sophomores Carly Vargo and Rico played well against L’Anse Creuse.

“We have a couple other girls on the JV who should help us,” Kwapisz said. “I think we’ll be OK next year.”

Class A

(Host Stevenson)

STEVENSON 25-25-25, FORD 19-16-23: Amy Coffin made 12 kills and had 12 receptions, and Regan Miller had 25 assists as Stevenson defeated Ford for a fifth time this season. Coffin also had four blocks and 20 digs; Emma Puzzuoli had six kills, seven digs, two blocks and an ace; Jette Blokhuis had 17 receptions, 13 digs, eight points (three aces) and two kills and Emily Smith served four aces among her 14 points for the Titans. Stevenson (32-16-3) defeated Ford twice in MAC White play, once in a tournament and once in a quadrangular. The Titans play Eisenhower on Wednesday.

(Host Fitzgerald)

FITZGERALD 25-25-25, DETROIT PERSHING 6-9-4: Beth Michalski, a team captain, served 11 aces, Sasha Sokolvskyy served six and captain Tia Carter five as Fitzgerald rolled in three games. Junior Lindsay Bullock made 13 assists for the Spartans. Sokolvskyy had seven kills and Carter six. Fitzgerald plays Ferndale on Wednesday.

Class B

(Host Center Line)

SOUTH LAKE 25-25-25, CLINTONDALE 16-20-15: At Clintondale, the Cavaliers advance to take on Lutheran North in a district tournament match set for 7 p.m., Wednesday, at Center Line.

Clintondale was led by its seniors. Brianna Harmsen had six kills and nine service points. Terri Stewart finished with four kills and three blocks. Ada-Marie Easterleing had three kills and four blocks.